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In New Orleans, a town famous for its French Quarter and Bourbon Street, for hot Cajun and Creole cuisine and for cool Dixieland jazz, one event surpasses them all as the city's legendary signature piece - Mardi Gras! It's a season of revelry and romance, of madness and music, of parades and parties, of comic costuming in the streets and grandiose private masquerade balls. Mardi Gras is a time when the gaudy and the gorgeous all come together for one gigantic blowout. From the regal to the ridiculous, the New Orleans Mardi Gras has it all! Since the first modern day pageant was presented in 1857, with time outs occasioned by World Wars, more than 1,800 Mardi Gras parades have been staged in metro New Orleans. The festival that was conceived as a party the city threw for itself has grown into one of the world's grandest tourist attractions. Yet for all its international fame, it can be difficult for a first-timer to grasp. The celebration even has its own vocabulary, and to make matters a bit more confusing, Mardi Gras is scheduled on a different date each year! Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Mardi Gras, however, is its connection to religion. But... then there's the sex. |